Fitness,
Goals,
Happiness,
Latest,
Life,
Weight Loss & Health
Just Say No to New Year's Resolutions!
6:24 AM
Think back to a time when you got
excited about achieving a goal and set up unrealistic steps for reaching that
goal. We’ve all done it. I like to call this the “New Year’s
Resolution Way of Thinking”. You decide
you are going to get fit - and your plan is to spend 2 hours in the gym every day; or, you are going to eat nothing but a smoothie for
every single meal; or, you are going to quit caffeine, smoking and sweets all cold turkey...
While these may be great goals,
the ‘cold turkey’/’drastic change to your lifestyle’ approach is simply another
example of setting yourself up for failure.
Not only are you setting up an unrealistic plan, but in doing so you are
making it far more likely that when you fail - you are now angry and frustrated
with yourself, an attitude that may continue to keep you from another attempt
at your goals for weeks or months to come.
If you’ve done this time and time
again - don’t worry - you are not alone.
In fact, doctors continue to see patients in the month of January year
in and year out complaining of a variety of symptoms from shaking, to fatigue,
to headaches. One of the first questions
they’ve learn to ask is, “Did you quit caffeine as one of your new year’s
resolutions?” Simply put, the body has a
strong (negative!) reaction to a quick and drastic change!
So, using that as a first
clue...why don’t we start working with our bodies instead of
against their natural rhythms and instincts?
The mind is the same way; it
needs to gradually warm up to changes.
It needs time (at least 21 days) to accept a new habit and eventually, a
new routine.
Think about it this way: if
you’ve ever trained someone else at work or if you’re a parent and you’ve taught
your children new concepts, how did you go about it?
You most likely started slow and
simple and then gradually worked your way through the changes little by little
as the person or child started to catch on right?
Well then…why is it that we
actually know how to break down changes for others in our lives, but we don’t
offer our own selves the same curtsey?
Odd isn’t it?
From here on out - think about
setting up your own goals the way you would if you were doing so for a friend
rather than for yourself.
Review your goals, or actually
sit down and review them with a friend to discuss whether they are a ‘New Year’s Resolution Nightmare’ that
will leave you feeling discouraged and set you back or if you’ve truly set up
an outline of small, realistic changes
that will get you to your goal!
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